How Do You Measure Success in Ministry? In my daily devotions recently, I was reading through Paul s letter to the Philippians when something I ve read dozens of times just smacked me in the face. You ve had that happen to you, right? Over in chapter 2 and verses 20-22: For I have no one else like-minded who will genuinely care about your interests; all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know his proven character because he has served with me in the gospel ministry like a son with a father. Like you, I ve read these verses many times, but what struck me this time through were two words in the verses. They are the words, no one. The great apostle, church planter, brilliant theologian and writer of nearly half the New Testament tells us that he only has one other man who carries his heart for the churches God used him to start. I mean, don t you find that amazing? One man after years and years of ministry. Kind of re-defines how we evaluate success in ministry, doesn t it? Now we know that Paul had other close associates. Certainly, Titus had to be up there in his estimation. He speaks glowingly in the next chapter of the entire church at Philippi. He knew Peter and worked with Apollos, so he was not unacquainted with other servants of God. Still, he makes this profound statement: no one else in his acquaintance cares for the churches he planted like Timothy. It is very easy to measure ministry success by the numbers. Membership increases by 20% each year, you are successful. If they decline, you are not. Biblically these measuring sticks are completely inaccurate. According to John s gospel, Jesus had a congregation of 5012 which everyone deemed successful. He preached one sermon and 5000 left. The next day in the National Enquirer, the headlines read, Faith Healer empties church with
negative testimonies from former members. Some said that church was no longer fun and that Jesus s teachings didn t have the same oomph to them. Listen, I am not saying that numbers are irrelevant. They can be one indicator that God is at work, but I can tell you after 40 years in ministry, I have seen far too many churches pat themselves on the back when the numbers rise and run for cover when they fall. If that is your sole measure of success; if you are only living to impress other churches by your stats, you are in major trouble on several different levels. The majority of American churches are giant spiritual nurseries filled with screaming babies demanding more milk. Only recently, 2 megachurch pastors resigned. While everyone celebrated their names and magazines heralded their churches attendance, two men just wanted to get out any way they could. Heaven measures success by disciples. I mean, isn t that what Jesus said in the great commission? Make disciples, not fill pews. Of course, the two are often related, but I personally think most leaders are just happy with fannies in the seats and leave discipleship as an option. People come to your church for their own reasons. They find you via the web or walk by your church or respond to an invitation by someone who attends. However they get there, the main reason they arrive is not to pick up a hymnal, become members and start tithing. They come to the doors of your church because they are in some sort of pain. You may be their last stop before making a really bad decision. They come to church to relieve that pain, and when they do, they also start to assess whether your church is a safe place to be accepted, loved and perhaps make friends. The preaching needs to strike a resonate chord with where they at if they are going to keep coming. In essence, people come to our church for purely selfish reasons. They want to draw from something we have. There is no problem with that.
People came to Jesus to hear the scriptures and be healed of their diseases. Not a one was thinking, how can I serve God s interests today? Encountering God through the Holy Spirit is vital to the future of our churches. If people don t encounter God through worship, through preaching, through the love that comes from our members and through miracles that God does on their behalf, the church will die. Sorry to be so merciless, but it is the truth. Churches today that are business, as usual, will be out of business tomorrow. If you think about it, the same principles apply to business. Companies that thrive are always changing and adapting to serve new customers. Few people alive today remember that Howard Johnson was once the largest hotel chain and restaurant business in the world. When my parents decided to take us to Howard Johnsons to eat as a child, we thought we d died and gone to heaven. What happened? Howard Johnsons became satisfied with its style, its menus its service and its identity. They kept on with business as usual until they went out of business. Many churches follow the same pattern. They think that because the church was once vibrant and effective that they can stay the same and people will come. In Egypt, they call that Denial. So, to get back on track people come to us broken, hurting and in need. Hopefully, Jesus does amazing things in their lives, but here is the thing. By and large, even after becoming Christians, the focus remains selfish. As a church leader, you have probably interviewed those who have come to your church from elsewhere. Perhaps in the conversation, you have asked, so why did you leave your former church? What are the typical responses? I wasn t fed. The church was not meeting my needs or the needs of my family. They didn t have an adequate children s ministry etc. etc. Notice that the reasons are all focused on self.
If you want to get honest, they are really saying, We sucked the life out of our former church and we came here to do it again. I realize that I am being somewhat facetious, but Christians by and large remain focused on self, long after they have given their lives to Christ. This is what Paul himself discovered. Part of the reason for this is the influence of our selfie culture. Part of it may also be due to the low standards pastors set in a desperate effort to increase membership rolls. Whatever the cause, our charge from Christ as leaders is to lead people towards His full destiny for their lives. That means leading them where they don t want to go. A term that you seldom hear much about any more is sanctification and its sister, consecration. Some denominations used to make a distinction between the encounter you have at salvation and then a second encounter with the Holy Spirit in which you set your life apart exclusively for God s service. Eventually, this morphed into the baptism with the Holy Spirit in some denominations and we lost all emphasis on setting one s life apart for God s service. 90% of current Christians attend church to meet their own needs. Once they sense that the spigot is no longer running, they find another church to drink from. That is the unfortunate reality. So how do we change that? How do we create some Timothy s of our own? Naturally, it all starts with you. The word leader implies that we all go first. You can t lead anyone where you have not gone, so first on the list is your own consecration. Are you in the place as a leader where you have laid down your own will, burned your bridges to the past and given yourself wholly to God and His direction for your life?
Don t take that question lightly. Consecrated leaders have no plan B. Is it not my will, but yours be done, or unless you do my will, I am done? A searching question to be sure, but you can only take people where you have been. Acts 19:8 records a time when Paul was getting a lot of contentious people disturbing his meetings. He made an executive decision to separate the disciples and train them in another facility. If you will permit me some liberty in extrapolating from this verse, it is often necessary to create a difference between normal churchgoers and people on the path to becoming disciples. Certainly, we see Jesus separating 12 from the crowd and then 3 from the twelve into which he poured everything he could. Who in your congregation needs to be separated out and given deeper training? I will tell you how to spot them. They come early and leave late. They come to you with concerns about the church together with potential solutions in a genuine effort to help. I am not referring to the know-it-alls that think they can do church better. They are of no value whatsoever. I am instead speaking of people who see weaknesses in the church and pray about how they might help to strengthen your mission. Consider forming a group of those you see have the best interests of your ministry at heart. Don t worry about how small the group is. Make it a group or class that is by invitation only. As Jesus did with his disciples, make this group different than just preaching more sermons at them. Go places together when possible, open up a two-way dialogue with them; talk about how to serve God more visibly and effectively as a church. Open up about your struggles and invite prayer. If there are any members of your current leadership who don t meet the standards we have been talking about, you may need to have a conversation with them. If they are titled leaders in your church but do not manifest some of the characteristics we have been discussing, do not invite
them into this group. Invite them to take a sabbatical from leadership for a while or challenge them to step up more. Paul made this statement about Timothy-types in II Corinthians 8:5 when he remarked that true disciples give themselves first to God and then to the minister. It is very rare that a congregant comes to you without an agenda and says, What way can I serve that would make your life easier? Not something you hear every week, is it pastor? The majority of the time, people come to us with a problem or a need and want you to fix it. Again, that is OK; that is the nature of ministry. Timothy- types position themselves underneath your authority to lift your arms up like Aaron and Hur did for Moses. They are like the men of Benjamin who said to David in I Chronicles 12:18, We are yours, David, we are with you, son of Jesse! Peace, peace to you, and peace to him who helps you, for your God helps you. This is precisely who Timothy was to Paul. He could fully trust him because he knew that Timothy would always act with integrity in his presence or his absence. Most church members, as my friend Jan Nel once said, come to you and say, You are ours, rather than We are yours. In America, October is Pastor s Appreciation month. While I think this is a great idea to honor leaders who serve, we need to find people who appreciate leaders 12 months a year. Truthfully, that is the mark of a future leader. Leaders learn to die to their own will; die to their own agendas and value the work of the kingdom more than anything else. During my ministry, I have made some life-altering decisions that drastically affected my income, my influence, my family and my future. Had I taken the roads offered to me, I would be a millionaire today and live in a gated
community no doubt. However, I was sure that those choices were not God s choices for me. You need people around you with hearts willing to sacrifice; people who are not moved by the praise of men, but the praise of God. We offer a free download here. I have heard back from many of you who have read my recently released book When A Good Church Goes Bad. Thank you to those who have given me a review on Amazon. As always I end with a quote. This one is from F.B. Meyer who said: "Consecration is only possible when we give up our will about everything."